Police Incident Reports A Selection of Noteworthy Incident Reports

Incidents listed are selected by the Officer In Charge of each shift that may have significant public interest.
Incidents listed are not inclusive of all incidents. To view Calls for Services information, please visit CrimeReports.com. Requests for information can be directed to the MPD Records Unit: (608) 266-4075.

Incident Report for Case #2012-305666

Incident Type

Check Person

Incident Date

10/25/2012 - 12:21 PM

Address

1500 block Morrison St.

Details

At first blush, it had the earmarks of a suicide note, thought the downtown beat officer. However, by the end of his investigation Thursday, he would learn words left along a Morrison St. parkway were from someone who had died, many, many years ago. Yet words she penned, it would seem, still hold deep meaning to the woman who left them on this day before Friday.
It was a neighbor who had called police around 12:20 p.m. after seeing a woman hastily enter the park. The witness watched as she placed a note and flowers before quickly scurrying off.
Curious, and concerned, the neighbor went to look at what had been left. Next to the flowers, was a handwritten note. It began: "Remember me when I am gone away, gone far away into that silent land...." It was signed by Christina Rossetti.
The neighbor thought Ms. Rossetti might be planning to harm herself, and the officer wanted to intervene before that happened.
"Myself and my recruit spent time checking prior contacts, checking internet sources, calling Crisis, searching the area, and in general looking for Christina Rossetti, with no luck," said the officer.
"Crisis (Dane County Mental Health) called me back later. An astute worker there recognized Christina Rossetti as a major Victorian English poet of the 19th century. She wrote a poem called 'Remember' which proved to be exactly the prose written on the handwritten 'note' found in the park," explained the veteran peace keeper.
The author Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) did not commit suicide. She died from complications of breast cancer. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and today is Wear it Pink Day, which promotes awareness and funding for breast cancer research.
As he concluded his probe into the note and flowers left in the park, the officer wrote: "We now assume someone left (them) as a remembrance or shrine to Christina Rossetti, probably in connection with the Breast Cancer Awareness activities.
Here is the poem in its entirety:
REMEMBER me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
"Remember" is reprinted from Goblin Market and other Poems. Christina Rossetti. Cambridge: Macmillan, 1862.